New Delhi, May 27
India’s biggest undergraduate admission exercise will start tomorrow and lakhs of students from across the country would compete for one of the 54,000 seats at Delhi University.

Students applying for a seat in arts, commerce, mathematical sciences and sciences, offered by 60-odd colleges, should get DU’s centralised pre-admission form to be available at 16 admission information centres across the Capital.

The centralized forms should be bought and submitted at these centres only between 10 am and 1 pm. Students can buy admission information bulletin at these centres for Rs 50.

The last year’s cut-off must be borne in minds by students while applying. The DU merit would be counted on the basis of the best four subjects. The best four marks would include one language and three main subjects. Most colleges at DU do not recognise vocational subjects like physical education and fine arts.

Colleges offering professional courses like journalism and social work courses, issue separate prospectuses. Two minority colleges affiliated to DU, St.Stephen’s and Jesus and Mary College, do not accept the centralised admission form.

Applications to courses in these colleges have to be submitted at the college campuses or their websites. DU has also made provision for centralised registration to courses in music and foreign languages. Candidates opting for music (Hons.) could register themselves at Faculty of Music and candidates interested in foreign languages could go to Arts Faculty north campus and room number 116 on south campus.

Students applying to regular courses through the centralized form need not go to any individual colleges to buy separate prospectuses unless a student is especially interested in knowing more about a particular college, said Gurpreet Singh Tuteja, deputy dean of Students’ Welfare, DU.

He said the information about the colleges was anyway available at the college websites. The university admission also made it clear that the centralized Optical Magnetic Reader (OMR) form was a pre-admission form and did not guarantee admission to the university.

Aspiring candidates in general category do not need to attach any documents with the centralized forms. To avoid mistakes in the final application form, students are advised to fill the specimen form provided with information booklet before putting final dots on the OMR form.

The OBC candidates have to apply through the centralized form itself while the SC-ST candidates could pick up their special OMR forms from four centres, Arts Faculty North Campus, Office of Deputy Dean Students’ Welfare South Campus, Rajdhani College and Shyam Lal College.

The DU would hold counselling sessions for SC-ST candidates from tomorrow to June 11 in the Arts Faculty building on north campus and in room number 116 in Arts Faculty building south campus. The counselling will be for one hour each session from 10 am to 1 pm.

The university provides 3 per cent reservation to physically challenged students with minimum disability of 40 per cent. Students applying under this category have to register themselves at the office of Dean Students’ Welfare at north campus with a recent certificate of disability issued by government hospital.

Students interested in applying for hostel facilities should collect the forms from individual colleges. Registration for sports and extra-curricular activities would also take place in the colleges.

New Delhi, May 27
The Delhi government is drafting a legislative Bill which would decriminalise begging after the Commonwealth Games.

Begging may no longer be a criminal offence as the Delhi government has planned to decriminalise the act of alms seeking in public places and adopt a humane approach to deal with beggars.

Ironically, the government is trying to get rid of them before the Games by imposing provisions of the 'Bombay prevention of begging Act 1959' under which the act of alms seeking is a criminal offence with a maximum jail term of three years.

According to the officials, the basic idea for drafting the new law is to bring a change in the minds of beggars by imparting training to them. The beggars will be given training in capacity building in life skills and livelihood.

"We have started working on a new bill on begging. The main objective for drafting Delhi's own law on begging is to decriminalise it in contrast to the existing penal provisions under the Bombay prevention of begging Act 1959. The law will bring in a new approach in dealing with beggars," said a senior law official.

He said that the government is taking the help of the NGOs involved in the welfare and rehabilitation of beggars like Centre for Equity Studies and Koshish, which affiliated with Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in drafting of the law.

Koshish has also signed a memorandum of the understanding with the state government on the issue.

"The beggars in place of arrest will be taken to shelters being constructed following the court order for the homeless through proper counselling where the process of their rehabilitation will be carried out with the help of NGOs," stated the official.

The Delhi government has also chalked out a plan to utilise the shelters in the Capital. "We will soon have shelters ready to accommodate the homeless," he said.

A study conducted by Delhi University a couple of years ago had revealed that the number of beggars in the Capital is around 60,000. The Delhi government had arrested 2,681 beggars in 2009, while the figure for the same was 2,232 in 2008 and 2,537 in 2007 under the Bombay prevention of begging Act 1959.

New Delhi, May 27
The organising committee of the Commonwealth Games, in collaboration with the Delhi government, has decided to showcase India's rich culture to the Games visitors by organising a series of events offering a taste of country's music, dance and folklore.

The state government has selected 15 venues in the city where cultural festivals will be held during the mega sports event to be held from October 3 to 14.

A host of renowned artistes and singers will perform in the events.

"The cultural programmes are being selected very carefully as we want the spectators to preserve the memories of the events for a long time," the official said.

He said to cater to the taste of young visitors, programmes featuring fusion music and dance will also be held.

Another official said the government had already roped in renowned theatre director Aamir Raza Hussain to stage shows at Red Fort and Quli Khan Tomb in Mehrauli.

There will be light and sound shows at Red Fort, Old Fort and Quli Khan Tomb.

The official said Hussain had been given the responsibility for the Red Fort and Mehrauli shows, while a film company will organise the light and sound show at Old Fort.

Titled Dasatan-e-Dilli, the 45-minute Mehrauli show will show Delhi's story.

"This is a great opportunity to showcase our cultural heritage to the entire world, and we are putting in a lot of efforts to select the programmes for the events," said a senior official with the Chief Minister's office.

He said cultural programmes would be held at venues, including the Games Village, Red Fort, Mehrauli Fort, Purana Qila and Kamini auditorium.

New Delhi, May 27
Three Italians were detained in Maharashtra today after Delhi police issued a look-out notice against them following recovery of 24 live cartridges from a hotel room in the national Capital where the trio had checked in on Tuesday.

The incident relates to room number 448 of the Radisson Hotel where 24 live cartridges and two empty magazines of Italian make were recovered from inside an AC shaft. The room was vacated by three Italians who had checked in the same day .

“The trio Giovanni Ceccomello, Donato Dngello and Giulion Tometto were detained at Pune and Mumbai airports this morning in this connection. They work in a petrochemical company Petronas and had checked into three rooms in the hotel on May 24. They left the same day after spending about seven hours in the hotel,” said HGS Dhaliwal, DCP (south).

Dhaliwal said cartridges were recovered after the hotel staff went inside rooms for usual cleaning and noticed an unusual sound emanating from the air-conditioner.

“A hotel mechanic found the cartridges in a polythene bag inside the AC shaft. There were 24 live cartridges, 2 empty magazines and two springs,” Dhaliwal said.   

A case was registered under Section 25 of Arms Act and a Look-Out notice was issued yesterday. The case has been transferred to special cell of Delhi police and a team of police officials was on its way to bring the foreigners to Delhi.

In February, two British nationals were caught from the same hotel while they were involved in spotting planes.

New Delhi, May 27
The mercy petition of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru will finally be sent to the Union home ministry within a week, an official from Lieutenant-Governor’s office said today.

The file, sent by the Delhi government to Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna on May 19, had been lying with him.

“The file has been analysed and will be sent to the home ministry as soon as possible,” said Khanna’s OSD, Ranjan Mukherjee.

An official in the Lieutenant Governor’s office said the file was being studied minutely and would be sent directly to the home ministry within a week.

The official said Guru’s file was sent back to the Delhi government which did not oppose his execution but commented on the law and order situation in its wake. “That comment was unwarranted from a government which does not have control over law and order,” the official added.

New Delhi, May 27
A 24-year-old employee of the Indian Navy has been arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan after some “secret and sensitive” documents like photographs of Hindan Air Base and map of Meerut Cantonment were recovered from his baggage at New Delhi Railway Station last evening.

According to information, the accused, Chand Kumar Prasad, is posted with the Navy’s aircraft maintenance unit in Mumbai and was arrested by the special cell of the Delhi police after a tip-off about his activities.

Prasad was produced before a magistrate today and was remanded to five-day police custody.

According to a police sources, he is currently being interrogated at the special cell office in Lodhi Colony and has apparently denied his involvement in any spying activities.

“We have reasons to believe that Prasad was passing classified information to a Pakistan High Commission official in New Delhi. He was held with photographs of Hindon Air Base and map of Meerut Cantonment, besides several other papers containing sensitive information.

He had come to Delhi to pass on this material to an official with the Pakistani High Commission,” said a Delhi police official.

New Delhi, May 27
All those waiting impatiently for their CBSE class X examination results will finally be able to breathe a sigh of relief as the board will declare the results tomorrow.

The nine lakh students who appeared for the CBSE class X examination this year are waiting for their results with their fingers crossed as the evaluation will be done under the grading system for the first time. Even as the system aims to rid of the intense competition for marks and percentage, students are a bit worried as to how the new system will assess their hard work. The students will be awarded just grades and not percentage marks from now on unlike the previous years. The new system is based on a scale, starting from A1 (exceptional) to E2 (unsatisfactory).

A1 represents above 91 score, similarly B1 is 81 to 90, while D is for 33 to 40 marks, and E1 and E2 are below 33. The grades also have equivalent points which start from 10 for A1 to 4 for D. As the exact marks will not be revealed, these points can be multiplied with 9.5 to get the average marks represented by the grades. Thus, A1 will be equal to 95, A2 - 85.5, B1 - 76, B2 - 66.5, C1 - 57, C2 - 47.5 and D will be equal to 38 average marks.

“I am a bit worried now as I wouldn’t get to know my exact percentage. I hope for the best tomorrow,” said Paritosh Bansal, a student of DPS Mathura Road.

The results will be declared tomorrow at 10 am on CBSE website.

New Delhi, May 27
With the ever-increasing temperature breaking all the records of previous years in the Capital, doctors say that there has been a significant increase in the patients suffering from heat-induced ailments this year.

There are a considerable number of typhoid cases, which normally surface in June and July only, once the rains come.

"Earlier, we saw typhoid cases mainly in June or July. But this year, we already have at least 10 to 15 cases per week, out of which many have to be hospitalized as well. Other severe cases are of diarrhoea and gastric flu or gastroenteritis. Cases of nausea, heat cramps, dehydration and heat exhaustion have almost doubled this year as compared to last year," said Dr Monica Mahajan, senior consultant, Internal Medicine, Max Hospital.

"People who travel a lot or have field jobs are the ones most affected. For the last couple of weeks, there has been a drastic increase in cases of heat cramps, fatigue, lack of concentration, occasional headaches and the like. Some complain of extreme high fever and drowsiness," added Dr Chandra Shekhar, Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital.

Dr Sujit Prakash at Vimhans Hospital said that most patients are having problems due to poor quality of water.

"Most people from bastis, especially young children, are falling victim to typhoid, diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases due to lack of sanitation and poor water quality. Dehydration is a common occurrence as well, as most of them spend their time outdoors," he said.

"The number of patients of heat stroke has seen an increase by 30 to 40 per cent since last year. Many people do not drink water at regular intervals which leads to heat strokes. Also, non-pasteurized dairy products, raw meat, stale food, unpackaged drinks from street vendors, not washing hands before eating are some of the common mistakes that can be avoided," said Dr Anshul Jain, Maharaja Agrasen Hospital.

New Delhi, May 27
Metro trains have begun to arrive for the 20-km-long Central Secretariat to Badarpur corridor, which is scheduled to open for the public before the Commonwealth Games by September.

Six standard gauge Metro trains have already arrived at Sarita Vihar Depot located on the line. "All six trains will be technically tested before the trial run on the main line starts," said Anuj Dayal, spokesperson, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

A total of 25 trains containing four coaches each would be used on the corridor. Till 2011, the tains would cater to around 3.6 lakh passengers daily.

The Delhi Metro had ordered 46 standard gauge trains for Phase-II.

The Central Secretariat to Badarpur line will connect three venues of the Commonwealth Games-- Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, National Stadium near Central Secretariat Metro station and Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range near Tughlakabad Metro station.

The 16 Metro stations that will fall on this corridor are Central Secretariat, Khan Market, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Jangpura, Lajpat Nagar, Moolchand, Kailash Colony, Nehru Place, Kalkaji Mandir, Govindpuri, Okhla, Jasola, Sarita Vihar, Mohan Estate, Tuglakabad and Badarpur.

New Delhi, May 27
As concerns about increasing environmental damage rage, organizations are coming out with different plans to raise awareness on the issue as World Environment Day, which falls on June 5, approaches.

Khushi Centre for Rehabilitation and Research (KCRR), a non-profit group working in the fields of health and holistic and sustainable development, will kick off a weeklong programme to mark the occasion.

"There has been a growing worldwide concern towards environmental factors affecting human health. As per the World Health Organisation (WHO) figures, environmental factors are responsible for 23 per cent of all deaths worldwide and 36 per cent of all deaths among children in the age group of 0-14 years. Of the 102 major diseases, disease groupings and injuries covered by the World Health Report in 2004, environmental risk factors contributed to disease burden in 85 categories," said Saket Mani Trivedi, organising secretary, Khushi.

The weeklong programme will include plant adoption and donation.

There will be documentary screenings, seminars on biodiversity, environmental health and different projects undertaken by Khushi in Delhi.

Separate sessions on environmental health for children, including the ones on recycling and waste management, will also be held.

"Through this endeavour, we wish to involve the common man/woman in conservation of environmental health. Our aim is to invite maximum participation on the eve of World Environment Day," Khushi’s organising secretary added.

New Delhi, May 27
Twenty-six years after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed its charge-sheet against four persons for cheating government of Rs 35 lakh, a Delhi court has convicted the accused. Two other accused died during the prolonged trial.

The case was registered in 1982 and the charge-sheet filed on July 31, 1984.

According to the CBI, Arun Kumar Gupta, Ghanshyam Sharma, Suresh Chand Gautam, Ramkishan Choudhary, Subhash Nivedita, Prem Prakash and Jigender Kumar Parikh caused around Rs 35 lakh loss to the government through cheating and forgery.

Nivedita and Prakash died during the trial while Parikh turned an approver.

Special judge V.K. Maheshwari awarded four years imprisonment to Arun and Ghanshyam, a government servant, along with a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on the two, and three years imprisonment to the other two accused along with a fine of Rs 50,000 each.

The convicts had entered into a conspiracy and helped 14 private firms, engaged in import and export of handicraft items, in a way that caused the government a loss of Rs 34,60,240.

The accused were charged under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code relating to cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy. Ghanshyam Sharma, who worked as a licensing assistant in the import and export department of the government, was also charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

New Delhi, May 27
The south district police has arrested a man from Orissa for allegedly murdering a security guard named Mahavir Singh.

Singh was found injured in the jungles of Siri Fort, DDA Park, on May 13. He later succumbed to his injuries in a hospital.

The police said the accused Surya Kant Mahlik (27) was arrested two days ago from Orissa. He was known to the victim.

Singh worked with a company of security guards called Sky Lark Group.

Mahlik allegedly killed Singh on pretext of helping him get a better paying job. After committing the crime, Mahlik took out Rs 8,600 from the victim's pockets and decamped.

Mahlik told the police that some days ago he had lost his job and was in need of money. "He knew that Singh had been looking for a new job and had got his salary on the fateful day. On pretext of providing him a better job, he convinced Singh to come with him to Khanpur. On the way, he took Singh to Siri Fort Park for some relaxation. While going in the jungle, he picked a piece of wood and hit Singh from behind. Thereafter, he took out money from his pocket and fled," said HGS Dhaliwal, DCP (south).